Schools get ready for new anti-bullying guidelines

It just got a little tougher to be a bully in New York schools.

School districts will be required to report instances of harassment and discrimination to the state and to provide anti-discrimination staff training as part of the Dignity for All Students Act, an anti-bullying law Gov. David A. Paterson signed Wednesday.

"It all sounds good," Watertown City School District Superintendent Terry N. Fralick said about the new law. "Our policy is no tolerance and the response is measured by the level of bullying and harassment, but it may end up being much more specific."

As part of the new law, all school districts must comply with specific anti-bullying measures by 2012. The state Education Commissioner will provide direction to districts for establishing policies and funding to help implement anti-bullying measures. The law also will require harassment and discrimination issues to be reported to the state.

As part of the new law, school districts will be required to revise codes of conduct, to adopt guidelines to be used in school training programs for employees and to designate at least one staff member in each school to be trained in non-discriminatory instructional and counseling methods by July 1, 2012.

The bill defines harassment as creating a hostile environment that interferes with a student's educational performance, well-being or to cause a student to feel that their safety is threatened. The bill covers bullying in general, but mentions specifically harassment in regards to race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and disability.

Watertown district officials have been talking about updating their policy for a while to include more specific language about cases of bullying and disciplinary actions. Attorney Frank Miller will speak to board members at a retreat later this month about updating the policy, Mr. Fralick said.

How the district deals with cyberbullying is one specific area that the law may affect, because cyberbullying can be anonymous and is often difficult to prove, Mr. Fralick said.

Text messaging, Facebook and Myspace can be handy communication methods but they have also become ways students can torment other students outside of school.

The state Education Department put out guidance to school districts this summer with specific guidelines about cyberbullying, which has increased as text messaging and social media websites have become more popular.

Bullying is a problem for schools, even when it takes place off campus, Carthage Superintendent Joseph M. Catanzaro said.

"It's definitely a problem but most is not within the school itself, but outside," Mr. Catanzaro said. "It's major because of the technology that's out there and a lot of cyberbullying that goes on that we find out about. You really need parents on your side when you're dealing with this because the counseling must continue at home."

When school officials find out about instances of cyberbullying, it's always addressed even though it happens outside of school because it usually "spills back in," Mr. Catanzaro said.

Superintendent James Kettrick said he's seen instances of cyberbullying in Indian River schools and that it can become a difficult issue to deal with because a lot of the tensions begin off campus, but must be dealt with in school. Most of the disciplinary measures for bullying are reserved for incidents that happen at school, Mr. Kettrick said.

"It's tenuous ground because a lot of this happens in a text message sent between students off school grounds," Mr. Kettrick said. "But it gets to the point where you need to do something within the school."